No World For Kids
by HopelessTWDAddict
Summary: What if Jenner had a sister and niece at the CDC? What if Sophia didn't go missing? What if Lori wasn't the one who got pregnant? How much would things change? Find out how things go differently in this version of the story. Sticking with some of the original plot, but throwing in a lot of my own twists too! Daryl/OC Sorry I really suck at summaries, but I hope you like it!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Emily and her older brother Dr. Edwin Jenner were sitting watching the security camera footage just like every other night when something caught their attention. "Holy shit." Jenner muttered. "Is that .. a group of poeple?! Living, breathing, talking people?" Emily asked with a slight hint of joy in her voice. "Yes, too bad they can't come in." Jenner murmered softly as he sighed. "Why the hell not? They have children." Emily exclaimed angrily as she glared at her big brother. Before Jenner could answer they heard footsteps coming towards them. "Mommy.." A tiny voice said quietly. "Yes baby?" Emily asked as she ran over to her little girl. "Why doesn't uncle Jenner wanna let the people in?" She asked innocently. "I don't know Lauren, don't you think its the right thing to do?" Emily asked softly. It was clear that Lauren was tired, she was rubbing her eyes sleepily. "Yes mommy, we should let the nice people in.." Lauren murmered. Emily began stroking her daughters hair. "You're such a sweet girl, after Uncle lets them in would you like to get some rest?" She asked the tired four year old. The little girl just nodded and hugged her mother. "Fine." Jenner muttered as he opened the main doors. All three of them headed towards where the group was. Emily was carrying her daughter in her arms while they followed behind Jenner. Once they reached the group everyone froze and looked at one another. They stood there in awkward silence for a while before Emily finally broke the silence. "Um.. hi. My names Emily and this little one.." She said calmly as she gestured to her daughter who was now standing beside her holding her hand. "..is Lauren, my daughter." She told them kindly as a small smile came to her face. "My names Rick Grimes." Rick said softly as he held out his hand, Emily took it and they both shook hands. "This is my wife Lori, my son Carl, Carol, her daughter Sophia, Shane, Jaqui, T-Dog, Andrea, Dale, Glenn, and Daryl." Rick said as he gestured to each person as he introduced them. "Nice to meet you all, I'm ." Jenner told him. "I think you all should take a blood test and I'll need to look you over to make sure none of you were scratched or bitten." Jenner informed them. "For fuck sakes Jenner, they're fine. I mean they look harmless enough .. except for those kids, we'll have to keep our eyes on them." She told him as she winked at the kids which caused them to giggle. Jenner softened his expression a little, but didn't give in completely. "Fine, you'll all submit to a blood test, that's my one condition. Also Vi close the main doors and kill power to this level." Jenner said quietly. Rick nodded in agreement. "We can do that." He replied. "Okay, while you guys do that I'll get dinner started! Hope you're hungry!" Emily exclaimed cheerfully. "I'm helping you too mommy.." Lauren murmered softly. "Well of course you are baby, you're mommys' favourite little helper! Wanna go get started then?" Emily told her little blonde daughter happily. "Yeah!" Lauren exclaimed. Emily then picked up her daughter and walked towards the kitchen and began making dinner.

Once everyone got to the dining room they noticed that dinner was out and waiting for them. Everyone happily took a seat and waited for their hosts. Emily sat down beside Daryl and Lauren sat down on the other side of her mom. "Hey Jenner! Make yourself useful and bring our guests some alcohol!" She yelled to him as she began to laugh. Lauren began to giggle and everyone else also began to laugh. "Aye aye Captian!" Jenner called backas he chuckled. "Alcohol?" Daryl said happily. "Yep, and not the girly shit either. Its mostly whiskey, but there's some wine and beer." Emily told him as she gave him a soft smile. "Damn girl, I like you already." Daryl muttered. Once Jenner came back with the alcohol everyone began digging in. "Mommy I wanna try some of that!" Lauren exclaimed happily as she pointed to her mothers bottle of whiskey. Everyone began laughing and Emily shrugged. "Like mother like daughter." Jenner pointed out. "That's true!" Emily said happily. She then turned her attention to Lauren. "Are you sure you're old enough baby?" Emily asked her daughter softly. "I'm a big girl mommy!" Lauren exclaimed as she smiled at Emily. "I say let her try it, you ain't gonna like it though darlin'." Daryl said softly to the little girl as he began to laugh. Emily smiled at Daryl then turned back to her daughter. "He's right baby you're not gonna like it one bit, but you can still try a little sip." Emily said kindly as she ran her hand through her daughters hair. Lori looked at her like she was crazy, but Emily just ignored her. She then poured a tiny bit of whiskey into her daughters cup and handed it to her. "Here you go baby." She said softly. "Thanks mommy, and thanks Mr. Daryl for helping me get it." Lauren said happily as she smiled at her mom and Daryl. "No problem girly, now drink up." Daryl told her cheerfully. "You, me and mommy on three?" She asked nervously. "Of course sweetie." Emily said calmly. "One..two..three!" Lauren exclaimed as they all took a drink. They all watched as Laurens face scrunched up and she spit the whiskey back into her cup. "Eww yucky!" She exclaimed as her mom handed her some juice to drink. Everyone couldn't help but to laugh. "Told ya you wouldn't like it girly." Daryl told her as he smiled at her. "Yeah, but now I'm a grown up like you and mommy. Does this mean I'm drunk?" She asked inocently. This made everyone laugh even harder. "No baby, it takes a lot more than that to get drunk." Emily explained happily as she kissed the top of Laurens head. "Okay, mommy I'm sleepy. I'm gonna go to bedy byes." Lauren said tiredly as she rubbed her eyes. "Okay baby, want me to come tuck you in?" Emily asked softly. "No thanks mommy, you stay and have fun! I'll take myself to bed, I'm a big girl!" Lauren said proudly. "I know you are sweetie, but no big girls too big for their mommy." Emily explained to her. "I know mommy, but I want you to have fun." Lauren explained softly. Jenner sensed that Emily didn't want her daughter to go to bed alone so Jenner stepped in. "I'll take her to bed, I was headed there myself anyways." He said softly. "Thanks Jenner." Emily said to him as she smiled up at her brother. "Goodnight baby, sleep tight and don't let the bed bugs bite! Love you." Emily said happily as she planted a kiss on her daughters cheek. "Night mommy, love you too!" Lauren said as she hugged her mom then ran off with her uncle.

Everyone else was still at the table eating when Shane decided to speak. "So what the hell happened here? Are you two the only ones?" Shane asked quite harshly. Emily glared at him. "Us three actually, seeing as my daughters a person too." She told him flatly. They just stared at eachother glaring for a few minutes until Lori broke the tension. "What about the oter woman? Vi?" Lori asked nervously. "Vi? Say hello to our guests, tell them welcome." Emily said loudly. "Hello guests, welcome." An automated voice known as Vi said. "So what the hell happened here then?" Shane asked once again. "Well I came here once things started getting really bad, I mean I was only a bartender so I had no reason to come here until there was absolutely nowhere left. Kind of like you guys." Emily began to explain. "I don't know exactly what happened, but from what Jenner said a lot of people either ran or they.. well they killed themselves." Emily said flatly. "Shane you are such a buzzkill.." Glenn said. "Buzzkillington, just like from Family Guy." Emily muttered. Daryl began to laugh and so did she. After dinner everyone started heading to their rooms. "Okay guys the showers are working, just try not to use up too much hot water." Emily said happily. "Hot water?" Glenn asked in awe. "That's what the lady said!" T-Dog exclaimed happily. Emily began walking down the hall when she accidently bumped into someone. She looked up and saw it was Daryl. "Sorry 'bout that, wasn't paying attention." She said kindly as she smiled at him. "Don't worry 'bout it. You guys got anymore whiskey?" He asked. "Well I have a secret stash in my room, come here." Emily said happily as she grabbed his hand and dragged him into her room. "Here ya go." She said kindly as she handed him a bottle of whiskey. "Thanks, ya mind if I drink in here? Drinkin' alones pretty borin'." Daryl asked her. Emily giggled a little. "Sure, you can be my drinking buddy for tonight." She said happily as she smiled at him. They both sat down on her bed and began drinking. "So how olds yer little girl?" Daryl asked. "Four, almost five." Emily said happily. "You don't look old enough to have a five year old." Daryl pointed out. Emily couldn't help but to laugh. "I'm not, I had her when I was seventeen. Just turned twenty-two." She explained to him. "Well shit, looks like ya did a good job raising her." Daryl muttered. "Thanks redneck." She said teasingly as she playfuly nudged him. "Oh you did not just call me what I think you did." Daryl said playfuly. "Oh yes I did." Emily said equally as playfuly. Suddenly Daryl was tickling her. "Stop, stop, stop!" Emily said in between laughs. "Make me." Daryl said as he continued to tickle her. "Okay." She said happily. Then she kissed him and he kissed her back. Before they knew it he was on top of her removing her shirt and she was taking his off as well. Once they were both naked Daryl stopped for a minute and looked at her. "Ya sure ya wanna do this?" He asked quietly. She looked up at him and smiled. "Why wouldn't I?" She asked happily as she kissed him again. After they were done and dressed again they fell asleep holding eachother.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

When Emily woke up she realized she was still in Daryls arms. "'Morning." He muttered as he smirked at her. "Morning redneck." She said happily. She began getting up but Daryl pulled her back down. "Where do ya think you're going?" He asked in a husky voice. "I gotta go check on Lauren and get her some breakfast." Emily explained softly. "Oh yeah.. okay I'll come help ya." He told her as he began getting up. "You don't have to." She told him quietly as she smiled at him. He pulled her in and kissed her. "I wanna." He said as they both got dressed and headed towards the door. Right when they opened the door Lauren walked right into her mother. "Mommy!" She exclaimed happily. She looked up and saw that Daryl was coming out of her moms room too. She gave them both a confused look. "Mommy, why is Mr. Daryl in your room? Did he sleep there last night?" Lauren asked innocently. Emily crouched down so she could look the child face to face and began explaining. "Yes baby, sometimes when people drink too much whiskey it makes them sick so I let Daryl sleep in mommys room so I could take care of him just like I take care of you when you're sick." Emily explained softly to her child. The confusion left Laurens face. "Oh! That makes sense mommy!" Lauren exclaimed, then she turned to Daryl. "Isn't my mommy the nicest Mr. Daryl?" Lauren asked happily. He chuckled before answering her. "She sure is kiddo, what do you say I help get ya some breakfast?" He asked her kindly. "Okay!" Lauren exclaimed happily as she grabbed Daryls hand and led him to the kitchen. Emily followed close behind. When the three entered the kitchen Lori looked at Lauren holding Daryls hand and had a confused look on her face. Daryl wasn't exactly one for being all touchy feely. Lauren noticed the look on Loris face and explained things to her. "Mrs. Lori, Mr. Daryl offered to make me breakfast! Isn't that nice?" The little girl exclaimed happily. Lori couldn't help but to smile at her. "That's very nice, but I can do it if you want Daryl." Lori offered. Daryl just shook his head. "Nah." He said before looking down at the little girl who still had a firm grasp on his hand. "What do ya want for breakfast kiddo?" He asked her happily. "Choclate chip pancakes!" She exclaimed. "Do you have all the ingredients here?" He asked her. "Yeah, mommy can show you." Lauren said softly. Daryl gently ruffled her hair. "Then choclate chip pancakes it is kiddo!" He told her with a smile on his face. "Yay! Thank you!" Lauren exclaimed as she hugged his leg which caused Daryls smile to get even bigger.

After breakfast Jenner told everyone to gather around in the labs. Even though Emily and Lauren have already seen what he was about to show the group before they followed anyways. After Jenner finished explaining everything about the TS-19 virus Dale spoke up. "I hate to ask one more question, but why is that clock counting down?" He asked curiously. Jenner let out a sigh. "Well that's how long it takes until the generator runs out of fuel and until decontamination takes effect." He explained as he looked down at the ground. "What?! You told me that was just a stupid countdown from before the outbreak that was counting down the days until the president came by for some sort of check in! You told me it meant nothing anymore!" Emily screamed at her brother. She was furious. "What's decontamination mommy?" Lauren asked inocently. "Yeah, what is it?" Daryl asked. Emily let out a sigh. "Basically the whole building explodes more or less, we die instantly." Emily said as her and Lauren began to cry. "Mommy.." Lauren began to say. Emily pulled her daughter into a hug. "Shh, its gonna be okay." Emily told her daughter. Daryl pulled Emily and Lauren into a hug. "Mr. Daryl, mommy.. don't let me die." The little girl said in between sobs. "I ain't gonna let nothing happen to you or your mom, you both are gonna be just fine." Daryl told the little girl. "Th-thank you Mr. Daryl." Lauren said softly. "You knew about this!" Shane accused Emily. "No I didn't!" Emily practically screamed at him. "Bullshit!" Shane yelled. "Are you retarded? Why would I want this for my daughter? Like seriously, do you have brain damage? What mother would knowingly let their child live in this death trap!" Emily yelled back at him. "Edwin lets get out of here." Emily said sternly. "I don't think that's a good idea, this way we can die in peace." Jenner said calmly. "Edwin, open these fucking doors." She told him. "Fine, but I'm not coming with you. I'm staying here." He told her calmly as he opened the doors. "Like hell you are!" She yelled as she tried to grab her brother. "Em, I'm staying. I love you and I love you too Lauren." Jenner told his niece and sister. He then looked up to Daryl. "Take good care of them for me." He told him. Daryl nodded before turning to Emily. "Emily..we have to go. You get Lauren out of here and I'll get him." He muttered. "Thank you." Emily said as she kissed him on the cheek. She picked Lauren up and ran into her and Laurens room to grab their things. Once they had everything packed they ran to the top floor with the others. "I grabbed Daryls stuff too." Rick said. "That's nice of you Ricky, but we gotta get this glass broken because bullets and chairs ain't gonna do it..we need a grenade." She explained to them. "Like this?" Carol asked as she held out a grenade in her hand. "Perfect." Emily said as Rick took it. "Okay cover your ears baby." Emily told Lauren. "Okay mommy." Lauren said quietly as she did what she was told. Just before Rick was about ot drop the grenade Emily noticed Daryl running with Jenner over his shoulder. Daryl put Jenner down and ran over to Emily and Lauren and threw his body on top of them to block the explosion. After the explosion while eveyone was running out Jenner ran back in. Daryl began to go run to get him, but Emily stopped him. "There's no time." She muttered as tears were in her eyes. Daryl nodded and picked up her and Laurens bags while Emily picked up Lauren. "To my truck!" Daryl yelled. Emily ran to his truck and got in the front seat with Lauren while Daryl put their things in the back. Daryl quickly got in his truck just before the CDC exploded. Once the CDC exploded Lauren began to cry. "Uncle Jenner.." She said softly as she cried. "Its alright, he's in heaven now baby." Emily told the small girl. Once the cars started driving Lauren fell asleep holding her stuffed bear she called 'Teddy'. Shortly after Emily fell asleep too.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

When Emily woke up the truck was stopping. "What's happenin'?" She asked quietly so she wouldn't wake Lauren. "I don't know, I'll go find out." Daryl said quietly. "We'll come too." Emily told him as she got up and carried Lauren over to where the rest of the group was. "What's goin' on?" Emily asked. "Roads blocked, we need to start movin' cars." Rick explained. "Alright, when do we start?" Emily asked. "You wanna help us move cars?" Shane snorted. "Or gather supplies from the cars, either one." Emily said with only a tiny hint of annoyance in her voice. She was really trying not to let Shane get to her. Lauren started waking up. "Mommy.." She said quietly. "Hey baby, everythings okay. Wanna help mommy look through the cars for some stuff?" Emily asked soothingly. "That's okay, I can watch her for you." Lori offered. Emily was hesitant, she'd seen how little Lori actually watched Carl. After a moment she smiled and agreed. "Okay, thank you." Emily said as she handed Lauren over to Lori. "Okay baby mommy and Daryl are gonna go down the road and look through some cars, you be good and always stay right beside Lori, okay? I love you." Emily told her daughter softly, but sternly. "Yes mommy, I don't want the monsters to get me. I love you too." Lauren said quietly. Daryl looked at Lauren for a moment then walked up to her. "Hey, the monsters ain't gonna get ya. Your mom and me ain't gonna let that happen." Daryl told her as he gave her a quick smile. "Promise?" The little girl asked him. "Promise." Daryl said softly. Lauren smiled at Daryl before him and Emily walked away.

After a couple minutes Emily and Daryl heard Dale saying there was walkers. "Lauren.." Emily whispered with worry in her voice. "She'll be okay, get under the car with me." Daryl muttered. Emily nodded and got under the car with Daryl, he dragged a couple dead bodies near to cover up their scent. After a few minutes all the walkers were gone, when they headed towards the group something wasn't right. Lori came running towards Emily panicing. "I'm so sorry, there were walkers and I forgot Lauren was with me so I ran over to Carl and two walkers chased her into the woods.." Lori explained. "What?! I trust you with my daughter and you just forget about her?! My four year olds out there in the woods alone with walkers chasing her because you're too damn stupid to know how to watch a kid! I'm gonna fucking kill you!" Emily screamed as she ran towards Lori with her knife in her hand. Shane tried to stop her, but she got out of his grasp easily. It took Glenn, T-Dog, Shane, and Andrea to hold her back. Emily was still struggling to get free and go after Lori. "A little help here Daryl?" Shane asked impatiently. "Nope, far as I'm conserned that bitch deserves it. Besides someones gotta get that little girl." He said bluntly as he left into the woods. Emily still hadn't stopped struggling to get free. "I'm gonna fucking kill you! That's my baby and you just forgot about her! You just left her to die you fucking bitch!" Emily continued to scream at her. "How would you feel if I did that to Carl?" Emily asked coldly. After a few minutes Emily stopped struggling and the men and Andrea let her go. Before they knew what was happening she was on top of Lori beating the shit out of her. "You just left my daughter to die you fucking bitch!" Emily yelled before stabbing Lori in the stomach. She was about to stab her again before she was once again held back, this time it was only by T-Dog, Glenn and Andrea because Shane was rushing to Loris side trying to help her. Lori turned and looked at Emily. "I had to.. I had to check on Carl." She tried to explain. "Well you could have oh I don't know.. brought my daughter with you! Its not my fault you can't keep an eye on your own damn kid!" Emily practically screamed at her. Emily was sobbing and Glenn, T-Dog and Andrea were trying to comfort her. "Thank you guys, I appreciate your efforts, but the only thing that's gonna make this better is seeing my little girl." Emily told them.

After about a hour later Rick and Daryl came back to the highway without Lauren. Emily tried to start breaking out of everyones hold to run to Daryl, but everyone thought she was trying to get at Lori again. "I just wanna see Daryl, please.." She begged. Everyone let her go and she ran to him practically tackling him with a hug."Daryl.. what happened?" She asked him as she sobbed. He wrapped his arms around her tighter before answering. "Rick went after her, but he told her to go hide and she did, but then something spooked her and she ran off. I lost her trail." Daryl said sadly as he looked down at the ground. "I'm so sorry, but we'll find her." He said confidently. "I know we will Daryl." She told him as she kissed him on the cheek. "What happened to Lori?" Daryl asked as he pointed to the woman who was dramatically laying on the ground still. "She let my daughter run off into the forest with walkers chasing her, that's what happened." Emily said simpily. Daryl leaned in and whispered to her. "Good, the bitch got what was coming to her. She shoulda been watching that little girl extra closely when she heard there was danger.." Emily looked up at Daryl and for the first time since her daughter went missing she smiled. Then Rick began to walk over to the two. "Did you stab my wife?" He asked calmly. "If she knew how to keep an eye on children I wouldn't have had to." Emily said bluntly. "I understand you're angry and I'd do the same thing if that was Carl, but please.. stop." Rick practically begged. Emily didn't say anything so Rick continued. "I know what Lori did was wrong, I will be talking to her about that, but please don't do this to me or Carl." Rick continued. After a moment Emily finally answered him. "Okay Rick, but I'm not doing this for her or because I forgive her. I'm doing this for you and Carl." Emily said softly. Rick pulled her into a hug. "Thank you, we'll find your little girl." Rick said reasuringly. Emily hugged him back and nodded. After that Rick headed back towards Carl and Lori. Daryl wrapped his arms around her again. "I'll find her don't worry." Daryl mutterd to her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Daryl, Rick and Emily decided to go looking for Lauren. She's only been missing for about twenty minutes so she couldn't have been far. After about five minutes of walking they heard a walker snarling. "Stay here." Daryl whispered to Emily. She just nodded and prayed her little girl wasn't its most recent victim. Daryl shot the walker with his crossbow then he walked over to the body to pull his bolt out. "Mr. Daryl!" He heard a small voice exclaim happily. "Lauren?" He asked in confusion. He was still trying to figure out where her voice was coming from. "Was that Lauren talking?" Emily asked as she ran up beside Daryl. "Sounded like her, but I don't know where its comin' from." Daryl told her. "Mommy! Mr. Daryl! Up here!" The young girl called from the tree Emily and Daryl were standing beside. Emily looked up and saw her daughter. "Oh my God! Lauren!" She said happily with tears in her eyes. Daryl looked up and saw her too. He couldn't help but to smile. He reached his arms out for her. "Alright kiddo get over here." He said playfully as she moved towards his hands. He scooped her up and brought her into her mothers arms. "Oh Lauren are you okay baby? I'm so glad we found you." Emily said happily as she hugged her daughter. "I'm okay mommy, I ran up into the tree before it saw me!" Lauren exclaimed proudly. "That's my girl, you're so smart and so brave." Emily told her daughter softly before she kissed the top of her head. Rick looked at Lauren and smiled. "How'd you know to climb into the tree?" Rick asked sweetly. Lauren turned to look at him and smiled. "When we were on our way to see Uncle Jenner mommy told me that if the monsters were ever chasing me to go somewhere high up where they couldn't reach!" Lauren said proudly. "Well you're a really good listener, you're very smart too. It was really brave of you to do that." Rick said kindly as he smiled at the little girl. "Well I'm a big girl and big girls listen!" Lauren said happily. Everyone let out a small chuckle before deciding to head back to the highway. Emily began walking with Lauren in her arms when Daryl stopped her. "I've got her." Daryl said as he took off his crossbow and reached his arms out to Lauren. "You don't have to." Emily told him softly. "I wanna." Daryl stated firmly, but kindly. "Yay! Can I have a piggy back Mr. Daryl?" Lauren asked excitedly. "Ya sure can kiddo!" Daryl said happily as Emily placed the little girl on his back. "Yay! Thank you!" She exclaimed. "No problem girly." He said happily as they walked back to the highway. When they got back to the highway despite everything that happened with Emily Lori looked relieved.

Emily began walking towards Lori to go apologize when Shane stopped her. "Nuh uh, not happenin' girly." Shane said firmly as he grabbed her arm. "You best let go of me Shane." Emily warned him. Shane laughed. "Fine, but don't go anywhere near her." He barked. "Well you aren't her husband, hell you aren't really anything to her as far as I know so why don't you back off?" Emily said bitterly. She noticed a flash of hurt in his eyes, but failed to understand why. "If you fuckin' touch her.." Shane warned. Emily rolled her eyes and walked over to Lori. "So uh.. I'm sorry about stabbing ya." She began awkwardly. "I over reacted a little. I was just so worried about her.." Emily said quietly. Lori chuckled a little. "Well at least I know you'll be able to protect us from bandits, but I'm a mother too I understand why you'd do that. Hell if something like that happened to Carl I don't know what I'd do." Lori said kindly. "So..are we okay then?" Emily asked hesitantly. Lori smiled at her. "Yeah, I guess so." Lori said sweetly. "Good, did someone already take care of your stomach or do you need it looked at still?" Emily asked. "Its fine, go be with Lauren." Lori said quietly before waving her in the direction of her daughter, who was now tossed upside down over Daryls shoulder laughing hysterically. Emily smiled and walked over to the two.

**Emily POV**

Seeing how Daryl is with Lauren makes me so happy. She isn't his, hell he's only known her two days, but he's treating her like his own. I've always wondered what it would be like if Lauren grew up with her dad around. Lately I've been reggretting just running away to Atlanta the second I found out I was pregnant. Me and him really had something special, but I just left him without even telling him he was gonna be a father. Sure he was a nice enough guy, but he wasn't ready. His family wouldn't have reacted too kindly if he brought home a baby either. Daryl reminds me of her father in a lot of ways. They have the same eyes and the same sense of humor, funny enough they even have the same first name. I don't know what Daryls last name is, but I doubt its him. Laurens fathers last name was Dixon, and he had a fucking crazy older brother. He was great to have on your side, but crazy none the less. Merle Dixon, I remember him clear as day. If anyone was still surviving its him. Since Daryl doesn't have a brother as far as I know they're deffinitly not the same man. I should ask Daryl his last name, its weird being with a man and not even knowing who he is. I walked over to where Daryl and Lauren were playing and smiled at them. "Mommy! Make him stop tickling me!" Lauren cried out happily. "I'm on it!" I said happily as I ran over to them and scooped my giggling daughter up into my arms. I smiled at her then looked over at Daryl. "Hey I've been meaning to ask you this, what's your last name anyways?" I asked curiously. Daryl smiled at me. "Dixon, yours?" He asked casually. If I didn't know any better I'd think my jaw hit the ground. Here in all this hell I not only found the father of my child after four years, but we're together and happy before we even knew. I just found Laurens father, but what happened to Merle? I feel sick. I loved Merle like family and I know he'd rather die than admit it, but he loved me too. I have so many questions now. "Mommy? Mommy are you okay?" Lauren asked, breaking my thought process. "Um..yeah baby I'm okay. Why don't you go play in the RV for a bit? I need to talk to Daryl privately." I told her shakily. Lauren shrugged and kissed my cheek before I put her down. "Okay mommy, love you." She said as she ran off into the RV. "Love you too sweetheart." I said sweetly.

I just stared at Daryl for a while before he broke the silence. "So um..you said ya wanted to talk?" He asked nervously. How do I tell him this? "Daryl..when you were twenty you were dating a seventeen year old named Emily, well..how do I say this? That was me. I know this is a lot to take in right now, but there's something else..Lauren, she's..yours." I said nervously as I looked at the ground. When I looked back up at Daryl his face was unreadable. He had so many different emotions, anger, relief, happiness, sadness, hurt and even resentment. Daryl just stood there saying nothing so I decided to speak again. "Look I don't expect you to forgive me for just leaving you like that, it wasn't right. When I found out I was pregnant I got scared and moved to Atlanta with Jenner. I was scared of what your family would do. I was scared of putting too much pressure on you, and I'm so sorry. I really did love you though. Every day on Laurens birthday I'd wanna pick up the phone and call you, but I'd always get too scared. I wish I never left you and I'm sorry. If you wanna hate me go right ahead, but please don't take it out on her. She adores you. If you don't want her to know that's fine, but I think she should. I can't lie to her about something like this." I told Daryl nervously. I realized that I was crying so I wiped my tears quickly. Daryl took a stepped forward. He stood there for a moment then he pulled me closer and kissed me. "I told ya from the start I could never hate ya. I love ya." He told me gently as he looked into my eyes and stroked my cheek. I smiled at him. "I love you too, I never stopped." I admitted. Daryl smiled at me. "Lets go get our daughter." He said softly and he took my hand and lead me to the RV. I smiled at him as we walked hand in hand. When we walked into the RV Lauren ran and threw her arms around me. "I missed you mommy, I missed you too Mr. Daryl!" Lauren said sweetly. Me and Daryl both smiled at her. I crouched down so I was looking right into her beautiful blue eyes. "Baby, I don't think you should call him Mr. Daryl anymore. I knew Daryl from a long time ago. Back before you were born, I didn't realize until a few minutes ago though." I began to say softly. Lauren just looked at me with confusion. Daryl crouched down and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm yer dad." He said softly. Laurens eyes got wide and she had a big smile on her face. "Really?" She asked excitedly. "Really, really baby." I said calmly. "Yay! I didn't wanna tell you..but I wished that he was my daddy. He's really nice to me and fun to play with. I guess my wish came true mommy." Lauren said quietly in a happy tone. Hearing her words caused my smile to get even bigger. Lauren ran to Daryl and gave him a huge hug. I'm so glad we found eachother in this hell. I wish Jenner was here to see it.


End file.
